‘Quit Heroes’ will soon come out on street pillar displays for an anti-smoking campaign. The sides of buses and advertisement vans will now have the former smokers from Halton becoming the stars for an advertisement drive showing how former smokers in Halton had kicked the habit.

NHS Halton’s Support Stop Smoking service has come up with the idea to support people who are willing to quit smoking as a report shows that more than a quarter of adults in Halton (27.1%) are smokers, in comparison to the national average of 21%.

Chris Tirrell of Runcorn says, “When I was about 40 I realized I wasn’t indestructible, the messages being sent out were true, smoking is bad for you, it does cause lung cancer, and it does cause heart disease”. Tirrell has been chosen as one of the faces for the campaign.

He says that he had earlier tried various measures to help him quit smoking but none of them had proved to be helpful. Julie Tipton, support coordinator, asserts that when the smokers would get a chance to face the former smokers, it would help them quit the habit as the impact would be quite real.

Emma Shakeshaft, 31, of Hough Green, Widnes, used to spend £25 a week on cigarettes; she too has been selected to represent the campaign.